Born in 1942 and Chinese president since 2003, Anhui native Hu Jintao had been posted to Gansu, Guizhou and Tibet during his climb up the party ranks, and first became a member of the Politburo’s standing committee in 1992. He graduated from Tsinghua University in 1964 with a degree in engineering. The Communist Youth League is known to be a staunch supporter of Hu. He retired as General Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee and Chairman of the Party's Central Military Commission during the 18th Party Congress in November 2012, and expected to handover presidency of the PRC to Xi Jinping in the spring of 2013.

Spain’s National Court has agreed to hear charges of genocide against former Chinese President Hu Jintao.

On Thursday, the court’s criminal division ruled in favour of an appeal by Tibetan exile groups allowing the indictment of Hu, a request which had been dismissed in June by the same court.

The court, which handles crimes against humanity and genocide, argued that the earlier decision had to be overturned because one of the plaintiffs, Thubten Wangchen, is a Spanish citizen and because China had not carried out its own investigation into the allegations.

“There’ll be some sort of diplomatic reaction,” said Nina Jorgensen, an associate professor at the Chinese Univeristy of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law. “China has been very much against these proceedings.”

“But in all likelihood, not a lot will happen,” she cautioned. “The case brings attention to the issue and gives the victims at least an opportunity to bring attention to their claims.”

Spanish courts can hear cases of crimes against humanity wherever they occur outside its national territory on the legal principle of universal competence. In 2009, the universality was limited to cases in which Spanish citizens are victims of such crimes.

The court’s decision follows lengthy proceedings which started in 2008, when Tibetan activist groups, one of them headed by Wangchen, asked the court to hold seven Chinese state leaders, including former President Jiang Zemin and former Premier Li Peng, responsible for crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the Chinese government in Tibet. China denounced the trial proceedings.

Hu Jintao served as Communist Party Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region between 1988 and 1992, overseeing a crackdown on anti-Chinese riots in 1989.

The court “recognises that this genocide is against the country of Tibet and against the Tibetan nation, and the judges recognise that this indictment of Hu Jintao comes at the precise judicial moment ‘when his diplomatic immunity expires’”, the Madrid-based Comité de Apoyo al Tíbet, a plaintiff in the case, said in a statement.

I imagine the Chinese Communist Party will ban anything Spain exports to China to put pressure on their politicians. I hope it starts a trade war. The WTO definitely needs to collapse.

tsering.d.dragung Oct 12th 20131:44am

as a response to bobbywong and ipc1998, spain is not the problem in that regard. china herself is the problem and it can only be solved if chinese people wake up from doomed nationalized ideology and take some responsibility as a citizen. it doesn't mean that you can speak if you have mouth rather responsible for what is coming from your mouth. may be you think it will ruin spain trade with china, although china is not stable and on the verge of falling sooner or later. not everybody is after money and immorality. so should you'll

Obviously, you have no idea what is meant by an organ of the state in international law and what an “independent judiciary” of a state being independent of.****books.google.com.sg/books?id=8m8-3hidSKYC&pg=PA30&dq=%22an+organ+of+the+state%22+define&hl=en&sa=X&ei=m61YUsOgCMvLrQeU1ICoCA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22an%20organ%20of%20the%20state%22%20define&f=falseThe issue here is that the Spanish National Court has made erroneous comments in its decision on the status of Tibet, namely it has made reference in its decision to “the country of Tibet” and “the Tibetan nation”. Since it is an organ of the Spanish state, Spain is responsible for the errors.In 1955, a 10-point Declaration was made by the first large-scale Afro-Asian Conference (also known as the Bandung Conference) and Point 4 states:“Abstention from intervention or interference in the internal affairs of another country”This principle is not an invention of the CCP. ****en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandung_Conference#Declaration

321manu Oct 15th 20136:16am

Bobby, you can't read English to save your life, and you're quite possibly an idiot as well.
1) Where has Spain declared a Tibetan state? Is that from the article, or from the voices in your head? In fact, please show me in the article where it is supposedly reported that the Spanish court (let alone the Spanish nation) has declared a Tibetan state? (Hint: you can't, cuz they didn't).
2) Where has the Spanish court tried to prosecute China? "Spain’s National Court has agreed to hear charges of genocide against former Chinese President Hu Jintao". Do i need to translate that into something other than English for you so that you might grasp it better? Would gibberish help? I mean seriously, is your ability to formulate a cogent argument so negligible that you have to resort to arguing against something other than what happened in reality? Cuz if all you have are imaginary arguments, then I'll leave you to debate them with your imaginary friends.
You are certainly welcome to debate "moral authority". But the courts don't deal in moral authority; they deal in legal authority. The court has made no claim of moral authority. So your point is pointless. Now, do you even understand what tu quoque is? Do you know why it's a logical fallacy? I don't have time to teach idiots, so you can go google it yourself.

HiggsSinglet Oct 14th 201312:49pm

Hu is a confucius idiot!!!

jamesobh Oct 13th 201311:42am

Spain has now become an enemy of China, even illegally indicting Hu Jintao. If there is any legality to the indictment, then Spain must show that she has the authority to arrest Hu Jintao.

On what basis do you suggest that the indictment was illegal? On what legal basis do you say that "the authority to arrest" is the litmus test for whether an indictment is "legal"?Here's some news for you. THe Spanish court is hearing the case, so you already know that the indictment was legal insofar as Spain goes. As for arresting Hu, that wouldn't be necessary unless he's convicted. Even then, no one would be extraditing him; on the other hand, no more Spanish vacations for Hu cuz he would then be fair game for arrest if he went onto Spanish soil.And why would Spain become China's enemy? The indictment is of Hu, and not of China. Time for you people to take a chill pill, and leave the histrionics behind.

Presumably, Spain had committed so many genocides in the heydays of the Spanish Empire (which lasted over 500 years) that some people (especially judges) in Spain believe that they are competent global authority on genocides. The Spanish were reported to have killed many Native American babies to prevent them from going to Hell by sending them to the Purgatory. They believed that innocent babies with unsaved souls when they died would go to the Purgatory whereas adult unbelieving Native Americans would certainly go to Hell. The then Spanish superpower believed they possessed the Eternal Truth and under divine orders to impose them on all non-believers wherever these non-believers might be by whatever means including violence. For today’s superpower, instead Eternal Truth, it has Universal Values. The odd thing here is that true universal values, by definition, are those practiced by people all over the world and do not need imposition from outside powers.****genocidioamericano.com.ar/ingles/viaje.php?viaje=mexico****en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spanish_Empire_Anachronous_en.svg

You are a very ignorant person:1) Since Spain is part of EU, it has no authority to delcare "Tibetan state", since the larger entity, EU, declared Tibet as an integral part of China.2) Sovereignty immunity is a universally accepted state right. Hence, Spanish court has no jurisdiction to prosecute China.If "tu quoque" is all you can come up with, and not refute the atrocities Spain has committed, then recognize the reason Basque was brought up to counter the moral authority that's being claimed, not an argument for legal authority.